Interesting. I've heard some people say that the M.O. for wall street these days seems to be:

- during earnings provide extremely positive guidance for next quarter. this will bump stock up

- as time goes by, slowly update your guidance downwards. if this process is slow, hopefully stock won't be very affected. repeat this until you're convinced that your public updated guidance is below your private earnings predictions.

- when earnings come, you'll over-shoot your depressed guidance. This will bump stock up. Again, provide extremely optimistic guidance for next quarter.